The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

The Canadian Champion, Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 23 ,/Merchants square series with gutsy victory Milton's supporting cast cornes through in gamne 4 By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion So just wbo bas more deptb? That question has come to the forefront of the Merchants' opening-round clash witb Bramalea after many of each side's standout performers earned two-game suspensions following a gamne-tbree melee last Tuesday. With both team's now missing half-a-dozen players -including most of the top scorers - the gauntlet bas been îemporarily tbrown down to the longtime playoff rivais' supporting casts. Milton rose to the challenge Oirsi in a crucial gante- tour encouniter ai Memorial Arena Friday. Heading into the nigbt down two-games-to-one in the best-of- seven series, the defending conference champions simply couldn't afford anotier home-ice loss. and looked quite sturdy in preventing one witb a gutsy effort Io shade the Blues 3-2. Said captain Dan Bognar, -We did a good job of stepping it up tonigbt. This was a huge win and now we've got the momentum." Bognar camne tlsrough witb a goal and îwo assista, including one on Michel Bond's game-winning deposit - a bottom-shelf shot past Mike Ella midway througb the contest. Dan Carcillo notched the first goal while drawing a pair of helpers was defenceman Rick Janco. Bramalea's scoring was done by Andrew Martin and AP Brad White. The Merchants' bantam call-ups offered noteworthy contributions as well. Miltonian Ryan Wildfang in par- ticular displayed plenty of grit in his junior debut. He and Toronto Young Nats teammate Jordan Grant played a regular shift îhroughout the night and saw ice time right up until the end. 1I thought 1 played pretty well tonight," said Wildfang, a member of Milton District High's junior football teani lasi faîl. Added head coach Dave Gagner, 1I had tu give tbem (call-ups) ice time tonight. We only had nine forwards. They played well. They're big, strong kids.- Fellow Miltonian Ryan McManus delivered bis sec- ond win in as many gamnes with a 28-save effort that featured several key pad and glove saves. Meanwhile, Pst Devlin offered a solid stay-at-home defensive game and made a big shot block in the final second of period two. Warren Wheeler was also impressive for the Merchants. Bramalea bosted game Oive last nigbt at Victoria Park Arena. The îeams will return to Memorial Arena for game six tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. Milton will bave aIl of uts players back for that game, witb the exception of David Ovcjak. Bramalea will get four players back but will still be missing scoring leader Scott Neil and captain Alex Ward. A seventh and deciding game, if necessary, will be played in Bramalea Friday. «Carrigan Blues' new coach By STEVE LeBLANC The Champion Longtime Merchant fans saw a mighty famniliar face on the visitors' bench during game four Friday. In another surprise twist to, wbat's becoming one of tbe moît memorable post-season sbowdowns with Bramalea, Gregg Carrigan -Milton's architeci for success through the mid-to-late 90s - now finida him- self coaching the Blues. The move comes on the heels of Mike Yacynuk's l0-year suspension - punishment for striking referee Brian Harasymchuk duning a game threeending brawl. Present ai the melce lasi Tuesday, Carrigan was quickly offered the bench boss duties following the OH-A ruling Thursday. At firsi he was reaistant. "l'd like to help, but uts Milton," be recalled. However, Bransalea's persistence and a desire to get back in the game eventually overshadowed bis reser- vations. Said Carrigan, "They (Bramalea) were looking for someone with some experience and maturity because of the volatility of the situation. l've known Joe (Abraham, owner) and Dan (Gale, general manager) for years and they've donc me a lot of favours. so 1 said 'yes'. "This is an extremely diffi- cuit situation (facing Merchants)." Equally tough will be work- ing within Bramalea's free- skating style of play - a stark - contrast 10, most of his champi- . , onship squads in Milton and Caledon. "That's (wide-open game) generally not my style, but I can't come in bere and over- Gregg Carrigan tumn a whole systemt in the middle of the playoffs. l've got to try to just tweak it a little." Merchants GM Nick Slawson -who worked alongside Carrigan tbrough championship drives in 1998 and 1999 - credited Bramalea's decision to acquire the proven skipper. &41 think they made a good choice. I jusi hope he loses îwo more games 10 us," said Slawson Friday, fol- lowing Milton's 3-2 victory to koot the Oirsi-round play ai two wins apiece. Carrigan bas also brougbt former Merchani and Bramalea goaltending coach Sudarshan Maharaj back for thbe series. Photo by GRAHAM PAINE Milton Merchent call-up Jordan Grant baelles in front of Bremnalea netminder Mike Elle while contending with Blues defencemnan T.J. Moore during game four of their first-round playoff series. Milton gutted out a much-needed 3-2 decision ta knot the best-of-seven series et two gamres apiece. Game six will b. played tomnorrow night in Milton. J